Man or Mouse?
by sasha1600
Summary: It's like a game of cat and mouse, and the mouse is tired of playing.  Warning: spanking of adult.  Don't like?  Don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**Man or Mouse?**

**Summary: **It's like a game of cat and mouse, and the mouse is tired of playing. **Warning: **spanking of adult. Don't like? Don't read.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I just play with them.

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><p>AN: This is part of my 'Lessons' series and builds on a larger plot arc. This story contains the disciplinary spanking of an adult. If you have a problem with that, click on that 'back' button now. You've been warned.

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><p>'You surprise me, Dr. Mallard,' Vance said as he headed towards the sliding glass doors. 'I would have thought you'd run a tighter ship.'<p>

Ducky looked around in confusion. Autopsy was, as always, spotless; he couldn't see what the Director had found fault with.

'Director? I'm afraid I don't...'

He wasn't able to finish the question before doors swished shut.

X X X

Jimmy's heart was pounding in his chest, the Director's words echoing in his mind. He was starting to feel like a mouse, being played with by a very powerful cat. Vance still hadn't said anything to Dr Mallard, but every time the man paid a visit to Autopsy – far too often – he felt a long moment of sheer panic wondering if, this time, he would. And now he was dropping hints...

Jimmy swallowed hard. He couldn't do this anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

'Dr Mallard?'

Ducky looked up, his attention caught by the obvious hesitancy in Jimmy's voice.

'He was talking about me.'

'Oh, I think not, Mr Palmer. As I've told you – repeatedly, I might add – there is nothing unusual about treating an assistant's position rather like an apprenticeship. Your job is not in danger just because you haven't yet finished your studies, as long as...'

'No, it's not that.'

Ducky blinked, unused to being cut off so bluntly by his quiet young assistant.

'Up until a couple of months ago, I was... uh... seeing Michelle. Uh... Agent Lee? And...'

Ducky listened, astonished by the tale the younger man was telling. Perhaps the Director was right. How could have been unaware of his assistant's escapades for so long?

There was a long moment of silence when Jimmy finished speaking, while Ducky gathered his thoughts and decided how to respond.

'Thank you for telling me this, Mr. Palmer. I know it must have been very difficult for you.'

Jimmy was visibly relieved at his quiet tone; he almost didn't have the heart to continue, anticipating how distressed the younger man would be. But the kindest thing he could do, was be consistent about his expectations.

'Right, then, lad. Go fetch the cane.'

Jimmy's eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed silently. Ducky wasn't surprised. He'd only punished his assistant once before; he wouldn't yet see this as a normal consequence of his actions.

But, when he did recover his ability to speak, his words astonished him.

'But... Agent Gibbs already... you know. Punished me.'


	3. Chapter 3

Jimmy blurted out the protest without thinking. To be fair, he hadn't actually stopped sneaking off with Lee to quiet corners of the base after Gibbs had punished him, so maybe Dr Mallard wouldn't think it had been enough. But, he'd stopped meeting her in Autopsy, and Ducky couldn't really punish him for what he did with his girlfriend outside the ME's domain. Could he?

'Jethro did WHAT?'

To Jimmy's surprise, Ducky sounded angry about that.

'He caught us, once. And...'

He found himself pouring out the whole story. How Gibbs had walked in on them, and given them a choice between being punished by him, or being reported to their respective superiors. And how Jimmy had deferred to Michelle's desire for privacy, and found himself bent over, howling in pain while Gibbs spanked him with a heavy wooden ruler.

'Yes, well,' Ducky began. 'I don't especially care about your trysts with Agent Lee. You might find it difficult to believe, but I was once young myself, and I can recall more than a few occasions when I...'

Jimmy listened hopefully as the older man recounted some of his own youthful romances. He wouldn't be punished for something Ducky had done himself, would he?

His hopes were dashed when Ducky suddenly concluded his storytelling.

'But I will not tolerate you _lying_ to me, Mr Palmer.'

'But... I... I...'

'All those times when you told me that you had been indisposed, or accidentally locked in a stairwell, or whatever excuse you provided for why I could not find you...'

Jimmy felt the blood draining from his face as Ducky continued to set out exactly _how_ – and how often – he had been less than truthful with his mentor.

'So, if you don't mind, Mr Palmer, Bring. Me. The. Cane.'

Jimmy found himself unable to move. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears, and for a moment he wondered if Ducky would still punish him if he fainted. Then he felt a gentle hand squeezing his shoulder.

'Jimmy, go get the cane. I'm going to give you three strokes...'

He swallowed hard. He'd taken more, last time. He could do this. And it wasn't as if he had a choice. But he couldn't bring himself to actually go and retrieve the fearsome implement himself. He'd just wait, and Ducky would...

'If you make me fetch the cane myself, it will be six. Now, go on.'

Ducky's words penetrated the fog of fear and propelled him forward. Far too soon, he found himself standing in front of the stern ME, handing him the cane that he was going to whip him with.

And wondering if it was too late to faint.


	4. Chapter 4

Ducky took the cane from his assistant's trembling hand and gestured him towards the desk. He resolutely ignored Jimmy's desperate pleas and promises that he'd learned his lesson. He cared too much about the lad to let him get away with repeated deliberate lies.

He waited patiently until the frightened younger man bent over, his hands clenched hard around the edges of the desktop. Then he brought the cane down with a loud crack. Jimmy shrieked in pain, and would have bolted upright, but Ducky stopped him with a hand in the middle of his back. He quickly delivered two more strokes, then turned away to return the cane to its place in the umbrella stand, giving Jimmy some time to start to pull himself together before helping him to his feet and propelling him firmly into a corner.

He waited until his sobbing had turned to quiet sniffles before pressing some tissues into his hand and setting him to work washing a large pile of scientific glassware.

Once he was satisfied that he could leave Jimmy alone, he strode purposefully towards the elevator.

He needed to have a few words with Special Agent Gibbs.


	5. Chapter 5

Gibbs scrubbed a hand over his head and released a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. The tongue-lashing he'd just endured from his friend left no doubt in his mind that the kindly older gentleman was perfectly capable of keeping Palmer suitably chastised.

Ducky had been livid.

It hadn't seemed to matter to the furious ME that the incident with Palmer and Lee had been so long ago, and before he'd shown any indication that he planned to take a personal hand in his assistant's discipline. Or that both Jimmy and Michelle had _agreed_ to the spanking. Or that not telling anyone – including Ducky – about what had happened had been part of the deal.

And for a few minutes there, Gibbs had been wondering if he was going to escape from the conversation without finding out for himself just what that cane felt like.

Making sure that his face was carefully blank, he headed back to the bullpen. His team had heard Ducky's loud demand to talk in private; they didn't need to know that Gibbs had been the target of his wrath, not just a convenient sympathetic ear.

And there was no way he was going to admit how much he didn't want a demonstration of the man's skill with a cane.


End file.
